Fasttimes!!

Well I decided to check my plugs. First I noticed a little bit of oil in each shaft. Two had fresh WET oil and the other two looked like dried oil. Then I took them out.......well look at the pics.

My 03 has 47k miles on it. Original owner. They look bad to me.

Three questions:

Is in the little oil in the shafts normal? How is that caused?

How do the plugs look?

I bought new ones from the dealer just in case, $21.99 a piece.

Conedodger

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but I would say they look pretty good. Coloring looks good. I don't see any wear. The oil is probably a little blow-by. Were the plugs a little loose when you removed them? I would clean them up, check the gap and reinstall them with the proper torque.

Fasttimes!!

Thanks for the reply. They were not loose at all. They all cracked when I broke them loose. I just bought new ones so I am going to install those with anitseeze and 15 ft lbs torque. Sound right?

Also the parts guy at Honda said they are pre-gapped. What is the correct gap...?

RWD_RCKT

Plugs are okay. But at 47k, you should replace them anyways since they are out.

The oil in the "spark plug chute" is not uncommon. There is a gasket that seals between the valve cover and "chute." Your's needs help. I would definitely buy the seals and replace them. I can't imagine having oil there is any good. I think you could kill a coil pack if you got enough oil in there.

Fasttimes!!

Its safe to assume the valve cover needs to be off to do that.

Also with Honda do you need to use sealant between the valve cover and head or is the gasket enough?


I know with my previous car a Nissan, you need a sealant and gasket.

RWD_RCKT

Valve cover comes off... these "chute" seals are held in place on the underside of the valve cover.

No sealant for valve cover gasket... just the gasket. Most of the time you can reuse... I do <cheap bastard>.

RWD_RCKT

Another thing... these seals are not rocket science. If you got the plugs out, you can replace these seals!

Fasttimes!!

Im going nuts trying to torque these. I put antiseeze and first did it to 15 ft lbs. Felt paranoid. Then went to 18 ft lbs. How do I know enough is enough. Using a friends torque wrench.



Argh........!

xviper

You have my PM reply that addresses most of your questions.
As for the plugs, I agree with conedodger, they actually look pretty good for that kind of mileage. The one looks like it's a bit more carboned up at the negative electrode than the other three but not a big deal. It's probably running just a tad richer than the others.
As already said, change them out anyway. Although the manual recommends a very high mileage for the first change, I always think you should yank those things out annually and check them. Replace them every couple of years. The OEM plugs aren't that expensive and it's cheap maintenance to keep the car running top notch.

Convict

$21.99 a piece? Really? I'm guessing that there are cheaper alternatives to the ones from Honda.